To Lure the French, Don't Be Too Sweet

Right now I am in my room while tango music plays softly in the main room and snippets of conversation in French floats from the kitchen. I think E's ex-husband is here and they are having a civilized dinner (and conversation, may I add). Today was the 1st of May, which is a holiday in France. Thus, my grand plans of hitting the Socialist archives (one of many--in typical leftist fashion, the party is completely disorganized) were shot, as well as any attempts to read in the Sciences Po library. Dommage. No, seriously. I had a lot planned for the day. Instead, I braved the crowds and hit my old haunt, Les Editeurs, where I downed a coffee elongee and read until it got too noisy. Many people in the cafe were discussing politics. This is unsurprising given that in four days the French will have their second tour of the presidential election. Being the poli-sci nerd that I am, I am thrilled to be here right now. One night, as I headed home from the metro, I saw Sarkozy's camp plastering his posters on top of Ms. Royal's. The very next day, Ms. Royal had been slapped on top of Nicolas. That same day, I saw a well-dressed lady try to tear down a Royal poster, and when that didn't work, she whipped out a permanent marker from her Louis Vuitton bag and tried to draw a mustache on Segolene's perfectly symmetrical face. Love it. In my (futile) attempts to improve my French, I have been downloading podcasts from the French ITunes. I got a really interesting one about the presidential election. In this particular episode the commentators waxed on about France's need for a Social Democratic party, one to bridge the left and right. The commentators were right in principle. The PS is a throw-back from the 1970's and the UMP reflects the French attraction to authority (DeGaulle anyone? How about a little Napoleon? Did someone in the back just throw a shout-out to Petain?). E remarked this morning that any Sarkozy economic reform would be met by mass protest and nothing would change under Sego. I wonder if a party that was ni-gauche and ni-droite would be able to push through the reforms France needs without causing mass unrest? So now I must go back to work. Tomorrow is a big day. I have a lot of things to do and red tape to cut. And on that note, I bid you adieu.